NCSY, the international youth movement of the Orthodox Union, recently honored Miami Beach native Rabbi Shraga Gross as an inductee into the Ben Zakkai Honor Society (BZHS) at its annual scholarship reception.

New members of BZHS are nominated by, and voted on, by current members based on the nominees’ service to NCSY and the Jewish community. The society’s main function is to raise funds for scholarships for high school NCSYers for summer programs in North America and Israel and for teens to continue their Jewish education after high school. The society has helped pay tribute for more than forty years to esteemed NCSY alumni and community leaders who have demonstrated their dedication to Torah and their service to the Jewish people.

Shraga Gross, principal of Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva (RPRY) in Edison, New Jersey, since 1993, finds interacting with his students the most “exciting and enjoyable part” of his job.

Rabbi Gross credits his dedication to avodat hakodesh to his parents’ total commitment to Torah education. His father, Rabbi Alexander S. Gross zt”l, was charged with the mission of building Torah and providing a Jewish education for every Jewish child by his rebbe, Reb Shraga Feivel Mendelowitz, zt”l. Together with his mother, Rebbetzin Shirley Pelcovitz, he succeeded and The Rabbi Alexander S. Gross Hebrew Academy in Miami Beach attests to that legacy.

Rabbi Shraga Gross found that inspiration as the impetus for involvement with NCSY, his first love. He served as president of his local chapter, Har Hanegev, in his native Miami Beach, when the chapter was awarded Chapter of the Year and Rabbi Gross was named NCSYer of the Year at the 1971 National Convention.

About the Author:Shelley Benveniste is South Florida editor of The Jewish Press.

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